Should A Woman Be Allowed to hold the office of President of the USA?

[webfact]

Merkel visits Turkey with ties frayed over fight against terror, free speech

REUTERS

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko address a news conference in Berlin, Germany, January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

 

ANKARA (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Turkey on Thursday for the first time since July's failed coup, seeking to bolster a relationship frayed by differences over issues from the fight against terrorism to free speech.

 

Merkel is due to hold talks with President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim during the one-day visit to Ankara, and is also expected to meet members of the main secularist and pro-Kurdish opposition parties, officials said.

 

Turkey's migration deal with Europe, cooperation in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, intelligence sharing and human rights are expected to be on the agenda.

 

But the two NATO allies have been at odds over Turkey's crackdown on dissidents after the failed July 15 coup, as well as Turkey's claims, which Berlin rejects, that Germany is harbouring Kurdish and far-leftist militants.

 

A row is also brewing over intelligence gathered by German Tornado fighter jets operating out of the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.

 

Germany, concerned Turkey could use the high-resolution aerial imagery in its campaign against Kurdish militants, has ruled out giving Ankara unfiltered access to the data.

 

Germany has rejected suggestions it is harbouring militants connected to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey and is considered a terrorist group by the European Union and United States.

 

But Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak told the state-run Anadolu agency on Wednesday that Germany had "given shelter to terrorists even during Turkey's hour of trouble."

 

He said Berlin was also sheltering members of what Ankara calls the "Gulenist Terrorist Organisation" (FETO), the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, which Ankara blames for last July's coup bid. Gulen denies involvement.

 

"The most important actors of the coup attempt ... are being hosted in Germany," Kaynak said.

 

German media reported on Saturday that around 40 mostly high-ranking Turkish soldiers who worked at NATO facilities in Germany had requested asylum.

 

Turkey's defence minister has urged Berlin to reject the applications and warned a failure to do so could damage relations. Berlin has said the applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

 

More than 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended from the police, military, civil service and private sector on suspicion of supporting Gulen since last July's failed coup. Some 40,000 people have been jailed pending trial.

 

The crackdown has worried rights groups and allies including Germany, who fear Erdogan is using the coup attempt as a pretext to curtail dissent. Turkey says the moves are necessary to protect democracy and root out supporters of the failed putsch.

 

(Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz and Gulsen Solaker; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Ralph Boulton)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-02

[Grouse]

Good idea to meet and see how issues can be resolved. Can't see Turkey getting in to EU for a generation. 

 

I hope peace deal for Syria (and hopefully northern Iraq) will relieve refugee pressure and allow repatriation of many.

 

No doubt my positive outlook will be countered by hate-speak from many ?

[jollyhangmon]

> ... Turkey says the moves are necessary to protect democracy ...<  

 

Yeah, that's a good one, thanks for the chuckle. I mean just ask the Kurds ...

 

Nobody would even rub against the totalitarian Sultan if it wasn't for Turkeys strategic position, EU would tell him straight where to go for trying to get into and i sincerely doubt the USofA would want to do anything with him if it wasn't for Incirlik airbase ...  

[Ulic]

It really is time to cut Turkey loose. Out of NATO, and certainly no Europe wide visa free

travel or EU membership. Erdogan has completely lost the plot. He makes Trump took

like Benjamin Disraeli.    

[JemJem]

Merkel doesn't give a hoot about democracy/human rights in Turkey. All she has done is to 'express concern' every now and then.

 

How about economic and military sanctions for example ? But of course, these won't be even considered. Erdogan has taken Merkel hostage via the refugee/migrant card. Besides, there are business deals to make !

 

Sickening.

 

I am not blaming only Merkel of course.

 

I hope history won't forget this oppressive, semi-dictatorial regime in Turkey and all those who have turned a blind eye to it.

Edited February 3, 2017 by JemJem